Author 



^^f *o^ 




o 

z: 

o 



Title 



Imprint 



■Dzt Ty 



16—47372-3 GPO 



FUNERAL ORATION 

Pronounced in the Opera House 

IN 

AUGUSTA GEORGIA, 

DECEMBER 11th, 1889. 
UPON THE OCCASION OF THE MEMORIAL SERVICES 

IN HONOR OF 

PRESIDEINT JE;FFI1H^0N DAYIg 

BY 

COL. CHAKLES C. JOl^ES, Jr., LL. D. 

Prbsident op the Conpbdbrate Survivors' Association 




AUGUSTA, GA. 

Chronicle Pbintins Establishment. 

1889 



BBH 



IN HONOR OF 



z3/ 




JEFFERSON DAVIS 

HELD AT 

AUGUSTA, GA. 

December the 11th, 1889 

BY THE 

Confederale Sufvivofs' Association 



,«.\taiIl7#A.„, 




FUNERAL ORATION 



Pronounced in the Opera House 



AUGUSTA, GEORGIA, 



DECEMBER Uth, 1889. 



UPON THE OCCASION OF THE MEMORIAL SERVICES 



IN HONOR OF 



pre;side]nt jeffkrbon dayi^ 



COL. CHARLES C. JOI^ES, Jr., LL. D. 

President op the Confederate Survivors' Association.! 



AUGUSTA, GA. 

Chronicle Printing Establishment. 
1889 



ti^G-7 



■ \J 



7 



THE ORATION- 



Ladies and Grentlemen : 

In yielding to the solicitation of my 
brethren of the Confederate Survivors' 
Association to address you on this mem- 
orial occasion, I was appalled at the short- 
ness of the period allotted for preparation, 
and at the magnitude of the theme suggest- 
ed for our contemplation. T am painfully 
aware that under the most favorable cir- 
cumstances in any attempt to remind you 
of the virtues and the services of the illus- 
trious dead in whose honor we are assem- 
bled, everything I could sav would be an- 
ticipated by your thoughts, and I would 
suffer the reproach of falling far below 
them. Nevertheless, answering the call of 
an Association whose lightest request is to 
me a command, with all the traditions of 
a consecrated past thrilling through my 
veins, and cherishing an admiration most 
profound for the character and acts of him 
who but yesterday was the noblest living 
embodiment of Confederate manhood, 1 
respond, as best I may, to the needs of this 
occasion, craving your generous indul- 
gence if I fulfill not the expectation of the 
hour. 



When Wilkie was in the Escurial study- 
ing those famous pictures which have so 
long attracted the notice of all lovers of 
art, an old Jeronymite said to him; I have 
sat daily in sight of those paintings for 
uearlv four score years. During that time 
all who were more aged than myself have 
passed away. My contemporaries are 
tfone. Many younger than myself are in 
their graves; and still the dgures upon 
those canvasses remain unchanged. I look 
at them until I sometimes think they are 
the realities and we but the shadows. 



6 



The battle scenes which the heroes of the 
South have painted ; the memories which 
Confederate valor, loyalty, and endurance 
have bequeathed ; the blessed recollections 
which the pious labors, the saintly minis- 
trations, and the more than Hpartan inspi- 
ration of the women of the Revolution 
have embalmed, these will dignify for all 
time the annals of the civilized world ; but 
the actors in that memorable crisis, they, 
—the shadows— will pass away. Johnston 
—the Bayard of the South — Jackson,— our 
military meteor streaming upward and 
onward in an unbroken track of light and 
ascending to the skies in the zenith of his 
fame— Lee — the most stainless of earthly 
commanders and, except in fortune, the 
greatest — and multitudes of their com- 
panions in arms have already gone 

"To where beyond these voices there is 
peace." 

But yesterday Jefferson Davis -the com- 
mander of them all — the most distinguished 
representative of a cause which electrified 
the civilized world by the grandeur of its 
sacrifices, the dignity and rectitude of its 
aims, the nobility of its pursuit, and the 
magnitude and brilliancy of the deeds per- 
formed in its support, entered into rest. 
The President of the dead Confederacy lies 
in state in the metropolis of the South, 
and every Southern commonwealth is 
clothed in the habiliments of mourn- 
ing. At this moment, throughout 
the wide borders of this Southern 
land, there is not a village or a 
hamlet which bears not the tokens of sor- 
row. By common consent the entire re- 
gion consecrates this hour to the observ- 
ance of funeral ceremonies in honor of our 
departed chief. General and heartfelt 
grief pervades the whole territory once 
claimed by the Confederacy. Was sorrow 
so spontaneous, so genuine, so unselfish, so 
universal, ever known in the history of 
community and nation— sorrow at the de- 
parture of one who long ago refrained 
from a participation in public affairs, who 
had no pecuniary or political legacies to 



bequeath, and whose supreme blessings 
were utterly devoid of utilitarian advan- 
tage? This spectacle, grand, pathetic, and 
unique, is not incapable of explanation or 
devoid of special significance. 

Within that coffin in New Orleans in 
silent majesty reposes all that was mortal 
of him whom impartial history will desig- 
nate as one of the most remarkable men of 
the nineteenth century. Around his bier 
in profound respect and loving veneration 
are assembled the trustworthy representa- 
tives of the South. Encircling that vener- 
able and uncrowned head are memories 
of valor, of knightly courtesy, of intel- 
lectual, moral, and political pre-eminence, 
of high endeavor, and of heroic martyr- 
dom. In that dignified form— so calm, so 
cold in the embrace of death — we recog- 
nized the highest type of the Southern 
geLtleman. In his person, carriage, cul- 
tivated address, and superior endowments, 
we hailed the culmination of our patri 
archal civilization. In him was personified 
all that was highest, truest, grand- 
est, alike in the hour of triumph 
and in the day of defeat. He was 
the chosen head and the prime exponent of 
the aspirations and the heroism of the 
Southern Confederacy. As such his peo- 
ple looked up to and rallied ai'ound him in 
the period of proud endeavor, and as such 
they still saluted him amid the gloom of 
disappointment. As we approach that 
revered form and render signal tribute at 
the grave of our dead President, every 
recollection of a glsrious past is revived, 
and our souls are filled with memories over 
which;. the "iniquity of oblivion" should 
never be allowed blindly to "scatter her 
poppy." It is a great privilege, my friends, 
to render honor to this illustrious man. 
Ours be the mission to guard well his mem- 
ory — accepting it in the present and com- 
mending it to the future as redolent of 
manhood most exalted, of virtues varied 
and most admirable. 

Although no Federal Flag be displayed 
at half-mast, or Union guns deliver the 
funeral salute customary upon the demise 
of an ex-Secretary of War, we may regard 



with composure the littleness of the at- 
tempted slight, and pity the timidity, the 
narrow-mindedness, and the malevolence 
of the powers that be. The great soul of 
the dead chief has passed into a higher, 
a purer sphere uncontaminated by sec- 
tional hatred, wholly purged of all dross 
engendered by contemptible human ani- 
mosity. 

It were impossible, my friends, within 
the limits of this hour to even allude to 
the leading events and mighty occurrences 
in the life and career ot him whose 
obsequies we are now solemnizing. Born 
of Georgia parents in bountiful 
Kentucky, while yet an infant his 
home was transferred to Missis- 
sippi, where his childhood and youth were 
spent in a community remarkable for the 
lofty, honorable, hospitable, and courteous 
bearing of its men, and the chastity, 
polish, and loveliness of its women. In 
such an atmosphere he acquired at the 
outset those gallant, urbane, refined, 
elevated, and commanding traits which 
characterized him through the whole 
course of his prominent and checkered 
career. 

Leaving Transylvania college in 1S24, he 
entered the United Htates Milita ry Academy 
at West Point. Upon his graduation in 
1828 he was assigned to the First Infantry, 
aud saw his earliest active service in the 
Black-Hawk war. On June 30, 1835, he re- 
signed his commission as first lieutenant 
of Dragoons; and, having married a 
daughter of Col. Zachary Taylor — after- 
wards President of this Republic — estab- 
lished his home near Vicksburg where, 
pursuing the avocation of a cotton planter, 
for some eight years he led a retired life 
devoted to earnest thought and intelligent 
study. Entering the political arena in 
1843 in the midst of an exciting guberna- 
torial canvass, he rapidly acquired such 
popularity as a public speaker and as a 
political leader, that two years afterwards 
he was complimented with a seat in the 
Lower House of the National Congress. 
During this service, and in debates upon 
prominent issues, he bore a leading part; 



9 



never once wavering in his devotion to the 
Union of our fathers, but, on the contrary, 
with loyal lip and ready hand endeavor- 
ing to promote the ''common glory of our 
common country." 

In June, 1846, he resigned his seat in 
Congress to accept the colonelcy of the 
First Regiment of Mississippi Rifles, to 
which position he had been unanimously 
elected. Joining his commaod at New 
Orleans, he proceeded at once to reinforce 
Gen. Taylor on the Rio Grande and, during 
our war with Mexico, conducted himself 
with a courage and soldierly skill which 
reflected honor upon American arms, en- 
riched the history of that important period, 
and won for him, from the chief executive 
of the nation, promotion to the grade of 
brigadier general. 

Well do you remember the conspicuous 
gallantry of Ool. Davis when, at Monterey, 
he stormed Fort Leneria without bayonets, 
and, amid a hurricane of shot and shell, 
led his regiment as far as the Grand Plaza. 
At Buena Vista, too, he attracted the 
notice of, and evoked hearty plaudits from 
the entire army of invasion It was there, 
by his celebrated V-shaped formation that, 
unsupported, with his regiment he utterly 
routed a charging brigade of Mexican 
Lancers, thrilling the natioa by the bril- 
liancy and the intrepidity of the move- 
ment, and eliciting from the commanding 
general commendation couched in the 
most complimentary terms. It was then, 
my countrymen, that he received a severe 
wound from the eilects of which he suf- 
fered to the day of his death. Yes, my 
friends, for more than fort? years Jefifer- 
son Davis bore upon his person the marks 
of a painful and well-nigh mortal hurt en- 
countered ia supporting the flag of his 
country. 

Entering the United States Senate in 
1847, he became chairman of the committee 
on military affairs, and exerted an influ 
ence second to none ia the discussion and 
settlement of the important questions 
which then agitated the legislative mind. 

Upon the election of Gen. Pierce as 
President of the United States, Senator 



10 



Davis accepted from his hands the port- 
folio of war; and, I am persuaded that I 
indu'ge in no extravagant statement when 
I afHrm that his administration of the af- 
fairs of that important bureau was more 
efficient, noteworthy, and satisfactory 
than that of any cabinet officer who pre- 
ceded or has followed him in that position. 
This I believe to be the consentient verdict 
alike of friend and enemy. 

Resuming his seat in the Senate Cham 
ber in 1857, he was recognized as the Demo- 
cratic leader of the 36th Congress. This 
distinguisbed honor he maintained, with 
consummate ability, during a period of 
unusual anxiety and profound responsi- 
bility, until the secession of Mississippi in 
January, 1861, when he withdrew from the 
national councils and returned home, 
where a commission as commander-in- 
chief of the Army of Mississippi awaited 
him. 

In this exciting political service no 
smell of fire touched the hem of 
his garment. No truculent spirit 
contaminated the manhood of his 
soul. No utilitarian methods dwarfed the 
dignity of his acts, or questionable policy 
impaired the honesty of his utterances. 
With no uncertain voice he denounced all 
partisans who purposed an obliteration of 
the landmarks of the fathers. The doc- 
trine of popular sovereignty he utterly 
repudiated. Carefully distinguishing "be- 
tween the independence which the States 
had achieved at great cost," and the Union 
which had been compassed by an expendi- 
ture of "little time, little money, and no 
blood," he eloquently and effectively 
maintained the State-right's theory which 
had taken such firm root in the constitu- 
tional thought of the Southern people. 
Although the admitted champion of his 
section, he professed and exhibited an 
abounding love for the Union, and avowed 
a willingness to make any sacrifice, con- 
sistent with the preservation of constitu- 
tional liberty, to avert the impending 
struggle. Mr. Davis was no political 
iconoclast — no disunionist in the vulgar 
|! acceptation of that term. 



11 



Tn the first volume of his "Rise and Fall 
of the Confederate Government," he has 
presented in a masterly manner his views 
upon the weighty question of the reserved 
rights of the States, and has submitted to 
the world an argument which, in my judg- 
ment, has not yet been answered save by 
the arbitrament of tbe sword, clearly 
demonstrating that the "Southern States 
had rightfully the power to withdraw from 
a union into which they had, as sovereign 
communities, voluntarily entered; that 
the denial of that right was a viola- 
tion of the letter and spirit of 
the compact between the states; and that 
the war waged by the Federal government 
against the seceding States was in disre- 
gard of the limitations of the constitution, 
and destructive of the principles of the 
Declaration of Independence." 

I have no desire, my countrymen, in this 
presence and on this occasion, to discuss 
issues which have been, at least for the 
present, settled at tbe cannon's mouth; 
and yet, in justice to the illustrious dead 
who by ribald tongue has been denounced 
as a "rebel" and a ''traitor," in defence of 
you — brave women and gallant men of 
the South,— who followed the fortunes of 
the Confederacy and who are now gath- 
ered together to pay homage at the shrine 
of him who occupied the chief seat of 
honor in the day of our nation's hope and 
peril, I cannot refrain from saying, in all 
truth and soberness, that tbe States never 
having surrendered their sovereignty, "it 
is a palpable absurdity to apply to them, 
and to their citizens when obeying their 
mandates, the terms rebellion and treason : 
that the Confederate State?, so far from 
making war against, or seeking to destroy 
the United States, so soon as they had an 
official organ, strove earnestly, by peace- 
ful recognition, to equitably adjust all 
Questions growing out of the separatijn 
from their late associates," and that the 
■'arraignment of the men who participat- 
ed in the formation of the Confederacy 
and who bore arms in its defence as the 
instigators of a controversy leading to 
disunion," is wholly unjustifiable. 



12 



For many years prior to the civil war 
the Honorable Jefferson Davis was one of 
the most commanding figures in the pub- 
lic eye. His services in the Mexican war 
had won for him military distinction, 
while his intellect, his oratory, hia states- 
manship, and his ability in dealing with 
questions of moment in the Senate of the 
United States, and in conducting the affairs 
of the bureau of war, were admitted by 
his opponents and applauded by his friends. 

In his esteem constitutional liberty was 
dearer than life. Possessing in an extraor- 
dinary rJegree those moral traits which are 
intensified under the test of heroic trial, 
he lived to show to the world "the match- 
less and unconquerable grandeur of South- 
ern character." 

"In mind, manner?, and heart, he was a 
type of that old race ot Southern gentle- 
men whom these bustling times are fast 
crowding out of our civilization." With 
him fidelity, chivalry, honor, and patriot- 
ism were realities, not words — entities, not 
abstractions. To the South, and the cause 
which it represented, he remained faith- 
ful even unto death. 

On Feb. 9, 18(51, in his personal absence, 
and without any solicitation on his part, 
Mr. Davis was, by the Provisional Con- 
gress assembled at Montgomery, Alabama, 
chosen President of the Confederate 
States. This foremost office in the gift of 
the South he contiaued to hold until the 
disastrous conclusion of the Confederate 
struggle for independence. It is historic- 
ally true that if his inclination had been 
consulted, President Davis would have 
preferred high military command to the 
station of chief executive of the nation. 

Summoning to his aid such heads of de- 
partments as appeared most suitable, and 
proclaiming iu his inaugural address that 
necessity not choice had compelled the 
secession of the Southern States; that the 
true policy of the South — an agricultural 
community— was peace; and that the con- 
stituent parts, but not the system of the 
government had been changed, he bent his 
every energy to the creation and the con- 
firmation of the republic newly born into 



13 



the sisterhood of nations. Herculean was 
the effort, involving as it did the entire 
organization of the Confederacy, the 
accumulation of supplies, the consumma- 
tion of governmental plans, and the enlist- 
ment, equipment, and mobilization of 
armies at a formative period when that 
union of seceding commonwealths was 
little more than a political name. Volun- 
teers there were of exalted spirit and 
capable of the highest endeavor, but the 
problem was how to arm them for efficient 
service. In the language of the venerable 
historian of Louisiana; ''If Minerva 
with wisdom, courage, justice, and 
right was on the side of the 
Southern champion, it was Minerva not 
only without any armor, but even without 
the necessary garments to protect her 
against the inclemencies of the weather; 
whilst on the other side stood Mars in full 
panoply, Ceres with her inexhaustible cor- 
nucopia, Jupiter with his thunderbolts, 
Neptune with his trident. Mercury with his 
winged feet and emblematic rod, Plutus 
with his hounds, and Vulcan with his forge 
and hammer." 

It is even now a marvel, transcending 
comprehension, that the Confederate States 
were able so rapidly to place in the field 
large bodies of troops. Equally astound- 
ing is it that a government — born in a day 
and erected in the midst of a population al- 
most wholly agricultural — could so quickly 
summon to its support the entire 
manhood of the land, establish machine 
shops and foundries, compass the importa- 
tion and nranufacture of quartermaster 
stores and munitions of war, accumulate 
commissary and other supplies at conven- 
ient points, erect and man heavy batteries, 
furnish field artillery, place muskets and 
sabres in the hands of expectant soldiery, 
and organize the various departmfnts 
requisite for the efficient administration of 
public affairs: — and all this in the face of 
an impending war of gigantic proportions. 
That President Davis, in the consumma- 
tion of this complex and most difficult busi- 
ness, evinced a patriotism, an energy, a 
capacity, and a devotion worthy of the 



14 



highest commendation, will be freely ad- 
mitted. 

And what, my friends, shall I say of his 
conduct as Chief Magistrate of the Confed- 
eracy during the more than four long and 
bloody years which marked the duration 
of our heroic struggle in defence of vested 
rights and in behalf of a separate national 
existence? Time would fail me to enumer- 
ate even the salient points of his over- 
shadowing intervention in, and controlling 
guidance of, the operations— civil and mil- 
itary— appurtenant to that eventful epoch. 
He was tbe central sun of our system, 
around which all lesser luminaries revolved 
in subordinated orbits. He was the guard- 
dian of our national honor, and the con- 
servator of the public weal. Amid trials 
the most oppressive, and disasters the 
most appalling, he never forfeited the con- 
fidence of his people; but under all circum- 
stances retained their loves and their al- 
legiance. His messages, state papers, and 
public utterances were models alike of 
statesmanship and of scholarly diction. 
His constant effort was to maintain, upon 
the highest plane, the purposes and acts of 
the government. Every suggestion was 
discountenanced which was not in har- 
mony with the dictates of the most ap- 
proved international ethics and the prin- 
ciples of civilized warfare. In communing 
with citizens and soldiers he inculcated 
sentiments exalted in their character, and 
counselled every sacrifice necessary for the 
accomplishment of the vital purpose in 
view. His energy in the discharge of the 
multifarious, perplexing, and important 
duties which devolved upon him, never 
flagged. His sacrifice of self was conspicuous. 
His spotless integrity, tenacity of convic- ^ 
tions, courage in maintaining his opinions, 
his enlightened conscience, his resolute 
temper, and his clear conception of right 
and honor in every relation, were potent 
factors in the solution of the tremendous 
problems claiming his attention. His res- 
olution — formed after the most careful 
consideration — was followed with a relent- 
less fidelity. Some men thought him dic- 
tatorial ; but an iron will, inflexible nerve, 



15 



and the bravest assumption of personal re- 
sponsibility were demanded by the occa- 
sion. For the guidance of the time and the 
control of events there were no precedents. 
Action, immediate, decisive, was the 
watchword of the hour. "They that stand 
high have many blasts to shake them," 
and the marvel is that he was able to en- 
dure the tremendous pressure, and to bear 
the burthens incident to the position he 
occupied, and consequent upon the perils 
which environed his beleaguered nation. 
Some there were who questioned the pro- 
priety of certain appointments to and re- 
movals from important commands, — crit- 
icised his plans,— and denied the advisa- 
bility of some of the public measures 
which he favored ; but no one ever doubted 
either the sincerity of his convictions or 
his absolute devotion to the best interests 
of people and government as he compre- 
hended them. Difficult beyond expression 
was the execution of the momentous trust 
committed to his keeping. To say that he 
perpetrated no mistakes, would be to pro- 
claim him more than mortal. In the light 
of past events, and in expression of the 
general verdict, this we will venture to 
affirm: that with the resources at com- 
mand, and in view of the desperate odds 
encountered. President Davis and the 
Southern people achieved wonders, and 
accomplished all that the purest patriot- 
ism, the most unswerving valor, the 
loftiest aspirations, and the most patient 
endurance could have compassed. 

"Till the future dares 
Forget the past," 
the fame of both shall be 

"An echo and a light unto eternity." 

With the surrender of the armies of 
Generals Lee and Johnston, and upon the 
disintegration of the Confederate govern- 
ment at Washington, Georgia, the end 
came. While attempting to reach the 
trans-Mississippi Department, and cherish- 
ing the hope that with the assistance of 
Gens. E. Kirby Smith and J. B. Magruder 
and the forces under their command he 



16 



would there be able to prolong the struggle, 
President Davis was captured by a de- 
tachment of Federal cavalry. Subjected 
to petty pillage and to annoyances incon- 
sistent with the usages of civilized war- 
fare, he was conveyed under guard to 
Portress Monroe where, charged with be- 
ing an accomplice in the assassination of 
President Lincoln, and accused of treasoB, 
separated from family and companions, 
heavy fetters riveted upon him, he was 
immured in a stone casemate. "Bitter 
tears have been shed by the gentle, and 
stern reproaches" have been uttered by 
the "magnanimous on account of the 
needless torture" to which he was 
then subjected. For two long years 
did this illustrious prisoner endure 
this unmerited disgrace, —this unwar- 
ranted and oppressive confinement. Could 
you, my friends, at this moment, with 
uncovered heads approach the coffin which 
encloses the mortal remains of our dead 
President, and reverently lift the shroud 
which enfolds his precious body, you 
would even now discover, on those pale 
and shrunken limbs, the abrasions caused 
by Federal gyves. Behold, my country- 
men, what he suffered as the representa- 
tive of the Houth ! Behold the martyrdom 
he then endured for the alleged sirs of his 
people. He was indeed "a nation's pris- 
oner." 

Bravely did he bear himself during this 
season of privation, of loneliness, of in- 
sult, and of attempted degradation, pro- 
tracted until satiated by their own cruelty 
and baffled in their rage, the prison doors 
were opened, and the Federal authorities 
were forced to acknowledge that the 
charge of complicity in the assassination 
of President Lincoln was a lie; and that 
Jefferson Davis— President of the Confed- 
erate States— was not a traitor. 

If anything were needed to consecrate 
his memory in the affection and the grati- 
tude of the Southern people, it is surely 
supplied in this vicarious suffering, and in 
the nobleness of spirit with which it was 
endured. 

Time and again since his liberation have 



17 



the shafts of falsehood, of hatred, of de- 
traction, and of jealousy, been directed 
against him; but, successfully parried, 
they have returned to wound the hands 
\rhich launched them. 

In his quiet home at Beauvoir, ennobled 
by the presence of the live-oak— that mon- 
arch of the Southern forest— , beautified by 
the queecly magnolia-grandiflora, redo- 
lent of the perfumes of a semi-tropical 
region, fanned by the soft breezes from the 
Gulf, and cheered by exhibitions of respect, 
att'ection, and veneration most sincere. 
President Davis passed the evening of his 
eventful life. Since the hush of that great 
storm which convulsed this land, he has 
borne himself with a dignity and a com- 
posure, with a fidelity to Confederate tra- 
ditions, with a just observance of the pro- 
prieties of the situation, and with an ex- 
alted manhood worthy of all admiration. 

Conspicuous for his gallantry and ability 
as a military leader— prominent as a Fed- 
eral Secretary of War— as a senator and 
statesman renowned in the political an- 
nals of these United States— illustrious for 
all time as the President of a nation which, 
although maintaining its existence for 
only a brief space, bequeathed glorious 
names, notable events, and proud memo- 
ries whick will survive the flood of years — 
most active, intelligent, and successful in 
vindicating the aims, the impulses, the 
rights, and the conduct of the Southern 
people during their phenomenal struggle 
for independence— his reputation abides 
untlouded by defeat, unimpaired by the 
mutations of fortune and the shadows of 
disappointment. 

Surely no token of affection can be too 
profuse — no mark of respect too emphatic 
—no rendition of honor too conspicuous — 
no funeral tribute too imposing for this 
dead chieftain of the South. Dead, did I 
say? 

"To live in hearts wa leave behind 
Is not to die." 

Eren now his name is upon every South- 
ern lip, and his memory emshrined in every 
Southera heart. 



18 



Bveu cow, all through this brave South- 
land funeral bells are tolling his requiem. 
The bi'avest and the knightliest are rever- 
ently bearing his precious body to the 
tomb. Benedictions, invoked by lips 
touched with a live coal from off the 
altar, are detcendiug like the dew of Her- 
mon. Pious drops bedew the cheeks of 
noble women, and the heads of stalwart 
men are bowed in grief. The hour is holy, 
and the occasion most privileged. 

In biddiug farewell to our President, we 
rejoice that, by a kind Providence, it was 
granted unto hira to spend in our midst 

"His twelv« long hours 
Bright to the edge of darkness; then the 

calm 
Repose of twilight— and a crown of 

stars." 

We rejoice that he was permitted to 
render back his great spirit into the hands 
of the God who gave it, sui'rounded by de- 
voted friends, accompanied by the loves of 
Southern hearts, ana amid the comforts of 
the metropolis of the South. We rejoice 
that having attained unto the full measure 
of human life and enjoyed the highest 
honors which Soutneru hands could offer- 
all mundane cares overpast— he has, as we 
confidently believe, serenely entered into 
that Upper Real aa where there are "trees 
of unfading loveliness, pavements of 
emerald, canopies of brightest radiance, 
gardens of deep and tranquil security, 
palaces of proud and stately decoration, 
and a city of lofty pinnacles through 
which there unceasingly flaws the river of 
gladness, and where jubilee is ever rung 
with the concord of seraphic voices." 



